1954-S Toned Franklin Half -- Guess Its Grade Before PCGS

Shot MS66, probably MS65. One of those coins you'd like to see in motion. It's a gorgeous coin.

Glenn5961, you do have a real treasure there.
Between that coins fantastic look and condition, and the fact that its from your grandmother, its something you should hold onto and never let go. Pass it down from generation to generation.

I grade it MS66, possibly FBL. The tick on the bottom set of lines worries me, but other than that, its a fantastic strike.

Thank you for sharing your truly beautiful treasure.

Youre welcome.
Very neat story about your grandmother. She has a good eye!

I really do not collect or seek out slabbed coins, so I cannot speak to how different TPG normally assign grades. I can say that I would be shocked if your coin graded anything under 66. I could see either way with the FBL, just because of the one tick, unfortunately.

The one thing I do know is that PCGS is only going to look at the bottom set of bell lines when determining FBL designation. NGC will look at the top and bottom set. Too bad the tick mark isn't on the upper set of lines!

Anyhow, best of luck on the grading and please do share when you get it back. I will be very curious to see what they think.

I've attached a picture of the same year half rated MS66 from the PCGS site (main picture for year) and it has a tick going across all three bottom bell lines. Was this coin over-graded by them? This whole coin grading thing has me scratching my head when I go by the grading book and then see the comments.

beatifull toner, thanks for sharing it.

That is one beautiful toner!

Be sure and let us know what PCGS thinks about it. I say it's at least a 65 with a very good shot at FBL.

I bet it comes back un-gradable because of questionable toning.

The toning is actually a darker blue but the camera didn't capture it correctly. Need to work on taking pics and setting the white balance correctly on these.

I was wondering when someone might start questioning the toning. These coins have been packed in a box in a coin album for the last 20 years in my parents attic (trust me I flipped when I heard that). They were supposed to been given to me back then when my grandmother died but my parents squirreled them away.

I don't blame anyone for questioning them but if they mark these as un-gradable due to questionable toning I'm going to be pretty upset knowing their true origin. Unless my grandmother was a master coin doctor many years ago lol.

There were others in there that were black and some that are all purple with other colors that really make me wish I got a hold of these sooner. Some are very unique especially some of the quarters. The ones that are pristine were packed in pill bottles with tissue layered between them. It's been a real joy looking at those.

Like I said before, I don't blame anyone for questioning any coin that has toning as I find some of them hideous to look at but to each his own.